Ball-bearing wheel.



G. M. RAYMOND. BALL BEARING WHEEL. APPLICATION FILED FEB. 26, 1910.

Patented July 5, 1910.

C Raggmond UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CADWALLADEB M. RAYMOND, 0F SOMERVILLE, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGN OR TOAMERI- CAN SKATE COMPANY, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OFMASSA- CHUSETTS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

- BALL-BEARING WHEEL.

Patented July 5, 1910.

Application filed February 26, 1910. Serial No. 546,067.

T call whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CADWALLADER M. RAYMOND, of Somerville, in thecountyof Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in Ball-Bearing Wheels, of which the following is aspecification.

This invention relates to improvements in ball-bearing wheels orrollers, and particularly relates to such rollers as are used in rollerskates. I

Furthermore this invention relates to that class of wheels or rollersused in skates or other articles or mechanical contrivances which aremade of material softer than steel or iron.

My invention has two main objects, one of which is to devise a secureandvpermanent mode of attaching the cups or bearings for ball races in awheel or roller of a material which is less hard and strong, or moresusceptible to atmospheric changes. than steel, and secondly in a modeof construction of a laminated wheel or roller by means of which thedisks or laminae from which the roller is built up are firmly unitedtogether.

The wheel or roller to which the invention relates may be made of anumber 'of thin disks of a great variety of materials, such as wood,fiber, soft 'metal, or a combination of any of these materials, or othermaterial similar to them, built into a composite whole; but it is notnecessarily as respects one feature of my invention at least, for theinvention applies in part to a solid wheel.

- for a roller or wheel made of such materials,

and similarly for a wheel cut or turned from a single piece of thecomparativelysoft material, that is, for a solid, one-piece wheel aswell as a laminated one, it is necessary mei'cially practical. \Vhensuch cups are so made that they may be held in a roller by friction, itis found that after a comparatively short term of use, they become looseand slip out or are displaced from In providing ball bearingstheirproper position with relation to the roller as a whole. This'is due tothe lack of sufiicient toughness and rigidity in the material to holdthe cups and to the swelling, shrinking and warping of the material whensuch material iswood, fiber, hemecite, or the like. Accordingly incarrying out one object of my invention I have devised a mode ofsecuring ball on s in opposite sides of the roller, the prefilrred formof which is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and described andclaimed in the following specification. v

In connection with the second object above-named, wherein the roller orwheel is made up of a number of disks or. laminae placed side by side,difiiculty has been encountered in holding these disks or laminaetightly together, and it has been found that in many instances there isa tendency for the members to separate and pull apart, due to warping onaccount of different atmospheric conditions asto moisture etc., and alsoon account of unequal stress to which they are subjected in use.

In .the accompanying drawings I have.

illustrated a roller illustrating the preferred means which I employ toovercome previous defects and put into operation the abovenamed objectsof my invention.

Figure 1 represents a side elevation of a wheel or roller illustratingthe invention. Fig. 2 represents an edge elevation of the same. Fig. 3represents a cross-section on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

The same reference characters indicate the same parts in all thefigures.

Referring to the drawings I have shown a wheel designed especlally foruse in a roller skate, which, as'appears from Figs. 2 and 3,

is composite or laminated, being made of a number of circular disks ofequal diameter, placed side by side. Various materials may be employed,in some instances Wood, in others indurated fiber or the like, and inothers, a soft or light metal such as aluminum, or a combination of' anyor all of these materials and of others of like nature. One. form of.roller which I consider good has its. outermost disks or laminae of thelight metal, and the interior disks .of wood, fiber or the like. \Vheelsof this character are very desirable in roller a skates, on account oftheir lightness and elasticity, resilience and hvehness, but in iioorder that they may be sufficiently light running, they must turn onball or roller bearings. The arrangement of the wheel or roller with aball bearing is illustrated in Fig. 3, the axle of the wheel beingrepresented by b and carrying adjustable cones between which and cups dare contained the balls 6. These cups are made of hard material such astool or case-hardened steel, and are set into the opposite faces of theroller. Difiiculty has been experienced in retaining the cups in placeand in preventing them from becoming displaced out of the exact centerof the roller., Manymodes of securing the cups in the roller have beentried, none of which, however, so far as I am aware, has beenpermanently successfulor sufiiciently economical to enable the rollersto be marketable. One of these modes has been to drive the cups into thesides of the roller with at tight fit and depend upon fric-- tion toretain them, but with this mode of attachment the cups quickly workloose and cause trouble. The mode which I have devised of securing thecups and which constitutes one of the features of this inventionconsists in connecting the two cups which are set into opposite sidesof, the roller by means of a tubular rivet, eyelet, or thimble,

the latter being of sufiicient internal diameter to receive the axle bfreelyand sufficiently small in external diameter to pass at its endsthrough the central perforations of the bottoms of the cups. The ends ofthe tubular rivet or eyelet are headed or flanged over to form the lipsg, which overlie the edges of the perforations of the bottoms of thecups. and which also are headed over with suflicient force to exert acontinual inward pull on both cups. The latter are preferably made asshown in Fig. 3, with ,some-,

' what of a taper externally, so that they are enabled to be broughtinto tight engagement with the walls of the recesses in the faces of sthe roller wherein they are set, and as a, consequence of which alsothey are forced more tightly and into firmer engagement with theroller'in proportion to the pressure applied in flanging over theeyelet. This mode of attaching the cups absolutely prevents either cupfrom falling out, and at the same time it holds the cups from anyserious deflection or displacement in case they should become loosenedafter extended use. M

Theother' aspect of my invention relates to the means employedforsecuring the disks a of a laminated wheel or roller together.

These disks are coated with glue at their flat faces and laid side byside, being pressed tightly together until the glue dries- When of wood,the disks are assembled with the grain of one crossing the other, sothat the I end of the woodis constantly in contact with the floor,which'causes it to wear perfectly round and true. This mode offastening,

however, will not prevent the disks from separating when they becomewarped, or when unequal stresses are applied to them;

I have therefore devised an additional mode of securing them together insuch a rigid and permanent manner that they'can never become separatedunder ordinary conditions of use. This means consists of a number ofeyelets or tubular rivets h, which are caused to penetrate the rollerfrom one side to the other, passing-throughall the disks, and are headedor flanged over at their ends.

Although, as previously stated, the roller or wheel above described isespeciallydesigned for use in roller skates, I desire it to beunderstood that it is capable of a more extended and diverse use thanthat, and therefore that I do not limit the invention to merely animprovement in roller skates, but contemplate its employment in anymechanical usesto which it may be adapted.

I. claim,-'

1. A laminated ball bearing wheel or roller, comprising a plurality ofdisks placed side by side so as to form together a wheel, ball cupsmounted centrally in the outer disks, said cups being perforated toadmit the axle of the wheel, and a tubular fastener arranged axially insaid wheel and having its ends passing through the perforations o thecups and headed over within the latter, to hold the cups in the wheeland bind the disks of the wheel together.

2. A laminated wheel or roller, comprising a plurality of disks incontact with one another, a plurality of eyelets or tubular rivetspassing throu h said disks parallel to the axis thereof, an havingenlarged ends to bind said disks together, ball races arranged centrallyin the opposite faces of the wheel, and a tubeoccupymg the center of thewheel having enlargements on its ends lying within said cups.

3. In a roller skate the combination of an axle, a wheel or rollercomprisingv aplurality of disks, tubular rivets or. eyelets passingthrough said disks parallel to the axis of the wheel and enlarged attheir ends to bind said disks together, ball races or cups surroundingsaid axle and engaged wlth the wheel at the o posite sides thereof, asleeve surroundingt e axle and contained in the center of said wheel,external enlargements on the ends of said sleeve lying within said cups,and bearing against the bottoms thereof, cones threaded upon such axleand extending into said cu' and series of balls contained between saidcones and the walls of the cups.

In testimony whereof I haveaflixed my signature, in presence of twowitnesses.

.CADWALLADERM. RAYMOND. witrigssasr:

EZ ARTHUR Hfifidwn.

